Essential Elements Of A Contract Essay

790 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Four requirements of a valid contract

This research is set out to explain the essential elements that make a contract valid, but first it is needed to be understood what a contract is. "A legally binding agreement made between two or more parties, that is enforceable in the court of law" is the well known definition of a contract. According to The Law Handbook (2015), a contract is deemed valid by the court when it contains a number of essentials.
Listed below are 6 key elements needed to make a contract valid. "A contract that lacks of one of these elements is not valid and therefore legally unenforceable" (Insuranceopedia.com, 2016).
1. Offer and acceptance are the first to arise when considering a contract. Offer means putting forth an arrangement of terms on the table for …show more content…

Minors, persons of unsound mind, and persons under drug or alcohol influence are considered not competent. They entering into a contract makes the contract not valid. Hamilton (n.d) stated, that under the doctrine of privity of contracts, "only those who are party to the contract have rights or liabilities under the contract, and so have the right to enforce the contract". Parties with considered competent and have legal capacity then must give their consent, which is agreeing to the terms of their own will and judgment of what is presented. Receiving consent means then under any circumstance, legal action can be presented in the courts, as the parties partook in actions that were genuine (Kumar, 2012; The Law Handbook, 2016). Parties outside of the contract known as 'third parties', are not applicable to the contract rights or obligations. This is waived however only under statutory exemptions (Hamilton, n.d). These elements denotes legality; that the essence of the contract are true, not under false or illegal pretences, legal to be presented before the courts under circumstances, and contractual actions are not against the law (Bays, 2016).

CONCLUSION
All types of contracts must illustrate these elements. Businesses are not exempted from this. These elements provide the contract itself and corresponding parties with the necessary requirements to partake in such an action without complications or drastic detriment. If any action is

Show More
Related

  • Lambert V. Barron Case

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    Legally enforceable "A contract is a legally enforceable promise or set of promises. In other words, when promises have the status of contract, the contracting party harmed by a breach of the contract is entitled to obtain legal remedies against the breaching party." (Scheffel, Evan, and Jane P. Mallor, 2010. Chapter 9, Page 321) The Lambert v. Barron case showed us an example of what happens when a contract does not contain all elements to become a legally enforceable contract. Mr. Barron did not accept the offer, Mr. Lambert made no promise to recover money from the disputed contracts owed to Mr. Barron, so there was no promise to perform.

    Read More

  • Objectivity In Contract Law Essay

    1107 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Contract Law, presumptions can become vague, misunderstood, misinterpreted and when used inappropriately can lead to ineffective judgments. To combat this and improve the process used to determine intention to create legal relations, The High Court of Australia has effectively re-characterised the role of presumptions, which has positively impacted other courts in the hierarchy. This began through the judgement made in Ermogenous v Greek Orthodox Community which positively changed the way judges dealt with both Contractual Presumptions and the Intention to create legal relations. This case inspired positive change which transpired through proceeding cases and judgements made by Australian courts.

    Read More

  • Clifton Jones V. Star Credit Corp., 59 Misc.

    1779 Words  | 4 Pages

    Contracts are legally enforceable promises. There are two requirements for contract formation: agreement and consideration. An agreement involves a valid offer being made by an offeror to an offeree and said offer being validly accepted by the offeree and communicated to the offeror. The second requirement is consideration, meaning the two parties exchange something of legal value. Contracts serve the purpose of ensuring stability, predictability, and certainty, as well as deterring defection, in business dealings. The objective theory of contract law states that only the language of the contract should be considered in contract interpretation. This theory ignores entirely the intent of the parties. However, contract law is largely

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Promissory Estoppel

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    The article "When is a contract legally enforceable?", helped me understand legally enforceable because it talks about the elements of a contract which are "offer and acceptance, legal consideration, capacity to create a

    Read More

  • Case Study Of The Common Law: Applicable Law

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    An offer is an objective manifestation of a willingness by offeror to enter into an agreement. It must be communicated to the offeree.

    Read More

  • Al Anood Case

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, there must be an offer is the willingness of a person to enter into a contract with another party. Therefore, an offer is a proposition which

    Read More

  • Seidner Vs. Steve Whitcomb Case

    1474 Words  | 3 Pages

    Issue Overview In order for a contract to be enforceable, there are seven key characteristics that must be present: offer, acceptance, consideration, legality, capacity, consent and writing (depending on the situation). The Eric Seidner and Steve Whitcomb case describes an example of what is believed to be a bilateral contract in which both parties agree to form a partnership. The problem with an oral agreement as compared to a written agreement is that there is no formal document between the parties. A major issue that comes up when dealing with oral contracts is, what is true and what is false.

    Read More

  • Third Party Payers In Healthcare

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    Third party contracts are comprised of the following: what the providers earn, the conditions of payments, required evidence of

    Read More

  • Four Elements Of A Contract Case Study

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Various elements must be present to prove that a valid contract exists between Sam and the chain store. The four elements to a contract are agreement, consideration,

    Read More

  • Offer Case Study

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    An offer is an expression of willingness to contract on specified terms, requiring only acceptance for a binding agreement to be formed. In other words, an offer is made when one party makes it clear, by actions or words that he is prepared to be bound as soon as the offer is accepted by the party to whom it is made. Offer can be classified into unilateral offers, bilateral offers and counter offers.

    Read More

  • The English contract Offer and Acceptance

    1227 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are three basic essentials to the creation of contract which will be recognised and enforced by the courts. These are: contractual intention, agreement and consideration.

    Read More

  • Essay On Formation Of A Contract

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    The basic law of a contract is an agreement between two parties or more, to deliver a service or a product. And reach a consensus about the terms and conditions that is enforced by law and a contract can be only valid if it is lawful other than that there can’t be a contract. For a contract to exist the parties must have serious intentions, agreement, contractual capacity meaning a party must be able to carry a responsibility, lawful, possibility of performance and formalities. Any duress, false statements, undue influence or unconscionable dealings could make a contract unlawful and voidable.

    Read More

  • Essay On Contract Law

    2266 Words  | 5 Pages

    A contract is an agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to perform some actions in return of some consideration. These promises are legally binding. The contract can be for exchange of goods, services, property and so on. A contract can be oral as well as written and also it can be part oral and part written but it is useful to have written contract otherwise issues can be created in future. But both the written as well as oral contract is legally enforceable. Also if there is a breach of contract, there are certain remedies for that which are discussed later in the assignment. There are certain elements which need to be present in a contract. These elements are discussed in the detail in the assignment. (Clarke,

    Read More

  • Essay On Social Contract Theory

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    From elementary to high school and even college students are compelled to attend school all around the world. In schools students not only learn general education but learn a lot about themselves. It is said that in the first twenty years of an individual’s life are the years that the individual finds out who they really are. An individual’s moral beliefs are one of the most personal and complex pieces of that individual. There are several great moral theories that could be taught in school, but to only choose one is very difficult. Some of the most known moral theories are Utilitarianism, Virtue Ethics, Kantianism and even Social Contract Theory. All of these theories were developed by some of the most incredible philosophers of all time.

    Read More

  • The Four Step Process Of The Case Of Carlill V. Carbolic Smoke Ball Company

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    The area of law that is required in order to form a legally enforceable contract is agreement.

    Read More

More about Essential Elements Of A Contract Essay

Open Document